


Study

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: M/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 10:18:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17222117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: Jack, David, and some trouble in a college library.





	Study

___

David had only been a few hours into his career as a newly-minted college freshman, when he discovered the wonders of his school’s library. Beautiful was the only word for it – the building was old, with lofty ceilings, wooden rafters, and large windows that let sunlight filter in through the maze of books. There were couches and pillows in the most unlikely places, making it easy to find a comfortable area to hide out and study in solitude. David loved that building, to the point where he was afraid to talk about it. He didn’t want people to think he was some kind of a hipster snob who waxed poetic about the scent of old books, after all.

Jack had also discovered the library during his freshman year (the building was really big and kind of ostentatious. Hard to miss.). Now he was a sophomore, and pretty damn certain that he wasn’t welcome inside. It wasn’t just the twenty-five books he’d checked out the first time he walked in and never returned (He kept forgetting. Racetrack was taking bets on his overdue fines being higher than his tuition by the time they graduated). Attempts to climb to the top of the stacks without the aid of a ladder were part of it (he hadn’t seen the ladders, and bookshelves weren’t as different from ladders as the librarians liked to pretend they were.). Getting caught in a very compromising position with Kid Blink on one of the couches had sealed his fate, as far as Jack could tell (the most unfair part of that was that he and Blink didn’t even like each other that way. It shouldn’t have been serious enough to get them chased out of a whole entire library. It hadn’t been serious at all. Every rational person in the world knew that drunken library kisses didn’t count.).

It took Jack and David discovering each other to get Jack to try the library out again. The main danger of David was that every day that Jack spent in his company made him more and more sure that he’d follow him to the ends of the earth willingly.

“Let’s go study,” was how it started. It was Saturday, but it was also the final month of the semester, and David was getting antsy about his exams. The fact that Jack had already managed to eke out half an hour of his company that afternoon was a monumental achievement.

“Sure,” Jack said, getting up smoothly. He grabbed David’s school bag and slung it over his shoulder, “Outside by the lake, huh? Bet you anything some of the other guys’ll be out there to keep us company. We can grab some snacks.”

“That’s not studying,” David pointed out. “That’s taking my books out for a breath of fresh air. They don’t need it.”

“I’m only thinking of you here, Dave.”

“As usual.” It had only been in the last couple of weeks that David had started making comments like that, and it was softened by an uncertain smile that wasn’t a part of David’s usual sarcasm. Jack kissed him quickly on the cheek.

“You coming or ain’t you?”

“Give me my bag. The library is better for studying. You coming or ain’t you?” The word ain’t came out in a teasing approximation of Jack’s own accent, and with a flash of challenge in David’s eyes. It made Jack want to forget the library all together in favor of other adventures.

“We can’t talk in there,” Jack pointed out. “Or do nothin’ else either.”

“That’s the point.”

“Mean.”

David shrugged. If having his meanness pointed out to him bothered him in the least, he didn’t show it.   
“Let’s go,” David said, and almost before he knew what he was doing, Jack found himself falling into step with his boyfriend. Maybe an encounter with a screeching librarian would liven up David’s day a little. He was the kind of person who needed that from time to time.

Much to Jack’s surprise (and mild disappointment), he got into the library without issue. David steered them towards a relatively secluded couch, sat down on it, and began to read a physics text book that he hated. It was around then that Jack realized he should have taken some of his own work. He hadn’t expected to get this far. He grabbed a textbook out of David’s bag.

“You don’t study Latin,” David pointed out.

“Who says I don’t? Just watch me.”

“Carpe diem,” whispered David. He didn’t watch Jack. Jack watched him instead.

At six o'clock Jack suggested going for dinner. David shook his head. Jack might have gone anyway, but David leaned over and put his head in Jack’s lap. There was no way that Jack was going to move him. He read David’s history book over his shoulder instead. It was full of notes and highlights.

“I don’t think you’ve ever stayed this still for this long,” David said after a while. Jack, who had been beginning to bounce his leg restlessly, stopped.

“I’m a master at keeping still,” he said.

“Sure.”

Jack resolved to stay as still as possible from that point on, but all the effort put in to trying not to move his legs made him his hands itch, so he started to play with David’s hair. David didn’t complain. Maybe he would later when he saw how stupid Jack was making his hair look, but for the time being he was happy to let it happen as he read.

Neither of the boys could say who fell asleep first. Jack was the first to wake up, and notice that the entire library was pitch black. He shook David a few times.

“Huh?” David blinked blearily, trying to make sense of where he was.

“Hey Dave? Remember how I told you that one time that every time I go into the library I get in some kind of trouble? Hate to break it to you, but I guess you’re in on the curse.”

All at once David sat up, and let out a very unDavidlike string of of expletives.

“Call someone?” Jack suggested.

“I never bring my phone along when I study,” David said, rumpling his hair. “I don’t want to be distracted.”

“Says the guy who brought along me.”

Jack’s eyes were adjusting to the darkness just enough that he could tell that David was glaring at him.

“Could make the best out of being stuck in here together,” Jack suggested, mostly because he liked the face that David made when he went from annoyed to incredulous. Even better was the way that David bit his lip before turning away.

They tried the doors. They tried shouting. They tried the windows.

“We could try breaking the glass,” Jack suggested.

“Absolutely not,” David was pacing now, hands clenching and unclenching in obvious anxiety. “That’s the worst thing we could do, even worse than…”

Even as David’s voice drifted off, Jack caught his meaning, and felt the thrill that always accompanied the possibility of getting David Jacobs in trouble.

“I’ll take the blame,” Jack promised. “They already hate me in here.”

There was a moment of deliberation, and then David nodded.


End file.
